Hayden Christensen has signed on to star in Brad Anderson’s (“The Machinist) next film, “Vanishing on Seventh Street”. The film will be about five survivors who fight to stay alive while grappling with the meaning of existence in a once-thriving city where shadowy forms cause residents to inexplicably disappear. Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo are also in negotiations to star in this indie thriller. To find out who they might be playing you can click on the jump.

THR tells us that Hayden Christensen will be playing a reporter while Newton will be playing a desperate nurse. John Lequizamo will play a subway operator in this creepy town. I know that the character descriptions are not that exciting but what might be exciting is thinking of what Brad Anderson might do with this premise. I’ve been a mild fan of Anderson for a couple of years now after loving “Session 9″ (which is a film that should be on your Netflix queue if you haven’t seen it already). It is one of the creepiest and most intense horror films in the past couple of years for sure and its cult following is a well deserved one. It’s because of that film that I’m glad to see Anderson go back to doing something creepy since he was so great at it the first time around. I also enjoyed “The Machinist” a lot but was sadly let down by last year’s “Transibberian”, even though I know it has its fans out there.

As far as the casting goes, I’m understandably iffy about Christensen. The rest of the cast seems fine to me. There was a time when I used to defend the actor when people used to give him shit during the prequels era by pointing them towards his performance in “Shattered Glass”. Then, I saw “Jumper”. Now, I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t think he’s the worst actor in the world but I’m still waiting to see him give another great performance. Who knows, maybe this one might be it?

Newton stars in Roland Emmerich’s “2012” on November 13th and Leguizamo can next be seen in “Gamer” on September 4th. You can also see Christensen star in the thriller “Takers” next February.

Shooting for “Vanishing on Seventh Street” is set to begin mid-October in Detroit with a script by Brad Anderson and Anthony Jaswinski.